Reply #10: I know!

[moose65]

There is no way that Washington and Oregon are "weak" by any stretch of the imagination. I was doing some searches this morning on several Secretary of State web sites. Dems outnumber Reps by a substantial margin in New Mexico. Why has that state been so close in recent elections? There is a huge, huge Hispanic population in NM, not to mention a very large Native American group. With Richardson's popularity plus the Udall Senate race, I think NM looks good for our side. Nevada, too, is a mystery to me. Nevada basically has two population centers: Las Vegas (Clark County) and Reno/Tahoe/Carson City. About 60% of the state's entire population lives in Clark County, and Dems again comprise the majority. Nevada is incredibly fast-growing, and a lot of the new population comes from California, meaning that they lean Democratic. If Obama carries all of Kerry's states, plus Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada, he wins without Ohio or Florida.